A/N
A little bit of back story on a certain character in this one…
Jean was busy scrubbing her hair out. During our trip, it had become nothing but a giant mess of tangles. Rahne didn't have that problem, but Jubilee and Kitty did.
Adelia had a huge tower. It was much bigger on the inside. I suspect some magical tinkering. Anyway, she showed us to this room with several different baths for all of us girls. She showed Mr. McCoy and Crepuscule elsewhere.
My hair wasn't as bad as the other girls, being shorter than Rahne's though not by much. Still, a great deal of dirt was coming out of it.
I felt a little odd bathing in the same room as the other girls, but shrugged it off. I should be thankful I was getting a bath, and it wasn't as if it was a community tub or anything. We all had our own.
"This is so great, it's been forever since I've had a bath."
"You? I still have gross marsh slime stains on my legs, and I've bathed since then."
"It was really nice of Adelia to take us in for awhile."
"She set a giant plant on us."
"Well, we were, like, trespassing."
"Where did our clothes go?"
"Crap! They're gone!"
"Don't freak, I'll get you some new ones."
"AAAAHHH!" Jubilee was taken totally off guard by the reappearance of the sorceress.
"Yeah, you and a lot of other people. I left some clothes for you to use in the cupboard. The clothes you have were never going to last you anyway." She said to all of us. "When you're done, come down the staircase, I got some food you can eat."
She left just as quickly as she came.
"That was creepy." Jubilee said.
"Well at least her heart is in the right place."
"And new clothes would be good."
I shook my head slightly and smiled. I was all clean now, so I grabbed a towel and wrapped it around myself and got out of the tub.
I stepped carefully, there was water all over the floor. I walked up to the cupboard, a large wooden one, and opened the door. There were several long sleeved shirts, made of good material, and what looked like calf length pants, made of pretty tough material. As I looked through, I was pleasantly surprised to find my own clothes, cleaned up, even the sash.
Magic again. No way they could have been cleaned that fast any other way.
I pulled those clothes out and went into the dressing room to change. After I was done, I used a brush that was near my bath and brushed my hair back from my face.
The other girls hurriedly got dressed as well. They all looked much better. Kitty and Rahne even found clean ties to pull back their hair with.
"I so need to get some clothes like yours, Dan. Why were yours cleaned?"
"Because they looked like they could still be used, unlike yours, which were in rags and tatters. Are you coming to supper?"
I have to admit, that woman can give people quite the scare.
When we all got over our specific heart attacks, we followed her downstairs. Mr. McCoy and Crepuscule were sitting in the room she led us too sitting in front of the fire in the hearth. It looked like a giant living room.
"Since you all look like you couldn't care less how dinner is served, I'm just going to give you some food in here. Good for you?"
"That would be just fine, madam. I thank you for your hospitality."
"Yes, well eat up. I don't want to hear any cracks on my cooking, either." She gave me a pointed glare.
In the hearth, a pot appeared, filled to the brim with stew. She brought us some bowls and silverware, and we all sat on the floor, except for Mr. McCoy, Jean and Adelia, who quickly snagged three old beaten up comfy chairs.
"So tell me what you all were doing out there, anyway." Adelia said after everyone had finished their first bowl. "Not many people wander around at midday in those plains. They've claimed more lives than a lot of other plains, even the magical ones."
"What causes those plains to become so hot?" Jean asked as she filled her bowl a second time.
"No wind. No protection from the sun. And it's deceptive, with it's too green grass. There's a river flowing right under the ground, and if it wasn't so hot, this place would a marsh. There's also a town not far from here, and their beacon acts like a magnifier for the sun. And it happens to hit this very plain."
"Wow." Was all she could say.
"We are here to look for our friends. They are mutants, as we are. However, as we are not familiar to this world, we tend to get into a bit of trouble." Mr. McCoy told her. I shifted, trying to lean against Jean's armchair at a better angle. As I moved, I saw Crepuscule sneak a glance at Adelia. I rose an eyebrow at that, but he didn't see it, and kept sneaking glances every once in awhile.
Jean and Mr. McCoy quickly filled Adelia in on our little misadventures.
"Ivan, eh? I know that scoundrel. A good man, but a poor law abider. He likes to step out on his own. And I swear the man has some sort of future sight. He seems to know things that no one should." Adelia laughed.
"Hey, you're a sorceress, right? Can you tell me something?" Jean said suddenly.
"What?"
"Danny, hold up your hands." There were no bandages on them.
"Nice scars." Adelia said with a shrug.
"She got them from Crepuscule."
Crepuscule coughed suddenly, choking on a small piece of meat.
"From him? What she do, put her hands out and he drew pretty patterns with a claw?"
"I accidentally set off an enchantment on him, and it dragged some of my mutant powers out of me through my hands." I said quietly.
"What power?" She asked, surprised.
"The power to raise dead animals from the grave." I said with no hint of amusement. She just stared at me, then rose an eyebrow.
"You're just full of surprises, aren't you?"
I just shrugged. Some of the others were giving me pitying glances. I shrugged that off too. Really, I don't think I should have a power that…extreme. It's just asking for a supernatural butt kicking, I'm thinking.
"What enchanter placed a spell of that magnitude on you?" Adelia asked Crepuscule. Crepuscule looked a little apprehensive.
"Lady Esperanza."
"HA!" Her swift exclamation made us all jump. "Why am I not surprised?"
"What about it?" He said defensively.
"Don't get defensive, she's a nice lady when she isn't enchanting dead logs to follow people around or setting her little lizard fiends on everyone. Or acting like she's queen of the universe." She said a little smugly. "Which is most of the time. But stand up, let me take a good look at you."
Crepuscule stood up and towered beside her. She walked around him sometimes poking his shoulder or examining the ropes around his neck. Then she pulled the medallion from beneath the ropes it had slid under and examined it as well.
"I have to admit, you're a piece of work. Ah, I remember that symbol. That's the House of Roush-Kaa, he lives to the far West Islands, and you," She looked down at it harder, "are a servant of that house, if my history doesn't escape me. They haven't used these medallions for the last forty years. How long have you been serving Esperanza?"
"A little over fifty years."
"I thought so." She let the medallion go and went back to sit in her seat. "That explains why they don't send servants to her house anymore, I was wondering what the fallout was over."
"I am very confused, Lady Adelia, what are you talking about?"
I was beginning to understand, and I think he did too, but he was struggling to fight against a new idea.
"You were human once. Then you probably got sent, left, did whatever and ended up in the Enchantresses company, for whatever reason, you probably upset her, for reasons that we shall not speculate, and she got you back by making you change job positions, and shape."
"Why…why would she do such a thing?" He looked as if his universe was crumbling and lay down. I put down my bowl and started forward but Adelia gave me a stern look, telling me to keep back.
"Esperanza suffers in ways that no person can truly understand. I've heard stories that she has done this to many men in the past. The reason she does it is because she never recovered from a truly broken heart."
Crepuscule watched her speak, but looked like he was about to go into a deep shock.
"Her love was a man whose name was forgotten by everyone except for her, left her behind on a trip. He was killed."
Rahne, Jubilee, and Kitty had forgotten their food and were listening with rapt attention.
"She waited for him for years. When she finally got the news, that he had died at the hands of others, she got back at them in the worst ways. No one even knows how she found out who they were."
The flames crackling was the only sound I could hear. Everyone was now devoting total attention to the story.
"After that, she devoted herself to the study of magic she had started before she had fallen in love. But she never let herself heal. She let the wound that had opened when he never came back to stay open."
She glanced down at the ground for a moment. "But as most of you know, wounds like that need some comfort, no matter how much one likes the pain. She began reaching out, in an attempt to find someone to fill that space. But her heart wasn't so easily convinced and she began searching for men that looked or acted like her lost loved one. But they were not him, and that made her very upset."
I snuck a glance at Crepuscule. His eyes had turned downcast. His muscles were bunched, as if he was going to bolt from the very room.
"So when she found a man, and they did not meet her expectations in some way, she took it as a personal affront, and acted accordingly. Her favorite punishment to dole out was-"
Changing men into the animals she thought they should represent." Crepuscule finished darkly.
"Exactly."
"I must beg pardon, I would like to get some air." Crepuscule got up and left with all of the dignity he had.
"Well, maybe we should get some sleep." Jean said quietly. Adelia nodded.
"Go up the staircase and take a left at the third landing. That's where the beds are."
Jean and the other girls got up and started up the stairs. Mr. McCoy bid Adelia goodnight and left as well.
"Not going to sleep, country?" She asked crisply as she waved her hand and caused the stew and all the bowls and silverware to disappear.
"I'm just worried."
"He's not going to drown himself in the pool, I think he seemed like he's made of pretty tough stuff."
"Yeah, he is. But, I can't help but feel sorry for him. I mean, to suddenly learn that … these things have happened, it must be traumatic. I hope he's okay."
"Because you need him to help you, or because of himself?"
"What?"
"Are you really worried for him? Or what you're going to do without him?"
"He's my friend. Of course I'm worried about him. I'm worried that he won't be the sophisticated, bashful creature he is and that I know." I got up and sat down in one of the chairs. It was comfy. "I can make it without him. It may take longer, and it may be more difficult, but if he decides he needs to leave than I won't hold it against him."
"Are you just telling me what I want to hear?" Adelia asked. "Or that you think I want to hear?"
"Maybe." I said grimly. "The truth is that I'll be scared if he leaves. Because if he leaves that means I've lost a friend no matter how hard I tried to hold onto him. And I won't have even tried to hold on, because I know whatever he's thinking right now I could never understand, and he'll need to do what he needs to do. I won't stand in the way."
Adelia was silent for a bit. I didn't talk either.
"I could change him back, perhaps."
"That's his decision." I said evenly.
She nodded. "I'll keep an eye on him, you'd better go to sleep."
I nodded a little more uncertainly, and got up and headed for the stairs.
How sad….
PrincessOfWildfire:The gargoyle appreciates the cookies. I wish we got some rain where I live, it would be welcome. Hope you like this chapter!
Asteria: I'm sure she'll pop up from time to time. Hope you like this chapter!
Anon(girl):Hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as the last one!
Herman is back and shall take all of the reviews!
